Burned Homes Should Be Rebuilt Green, Lack Says
Lack Construction president asks Schwarzenegger to promote green elements during renewal phase.
Lack Construction president David Lack took advantage of his participation at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit in Beverly Hills to pitch Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on the idea of rebuilding green after the Tea Fire and other Southern California wildfires.
Lack spoke personally with Schwarzenegger on Wednesday and, after thanking him for his support for Santa Barbara during the Tea Fire, urged that destroyed homes be rebuilt with green features and processes. Schwarzenegger indicated his agreement, calling the proposal “a very good idea.”
“We can rebuild homes that are less prone to fire, more energy- and water-efficient, and built with materials and procedures that are sensitive to the environment.”
Moreover, based on his experience in tear-down rebuilding and mold remediation, Lack said he believes there may be an opportunity to recycle some materials from the fires rather than add to landfills.
Lack, who attended the summit at Schwarzenegger’s invitation, is a longtime proponent and financial supporter, locally and nationally, of the green building movement. Lack Construction was Santa Barbara’s first construction company to staff professionals accredited by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program. The firm also adheres to a set of Green Best Practices, developed by its associates. Earlier this year, Lack met with President Bush and encouraged him to build his presidential library to the highest (platinum) LEED standards.
“Rebuilding the homes destroyed by the fires with green products and processes, thereby making them energy-efficient and environmentally sound, should receive the utmost consideration by homeowners,” Lack said. “Incorporation of such features should not prevent a homeowner who lost a home in the fire from receiving fast-track permitting by local government.”
Lack urged all architects, contractors, sub-contractors and material suppliers to support the effort to rebuild green by helping displaced homeowners make smart decisions about how to make the rebuilding of their homes more green than the homes they lost in the fires.
“For example, strong consideration should be given to using recycled and regionally manufactured materials, which not only minimizes transportation costs but reduces the carbon footprint of the project,” Lack said.
Jim Gazdecki is Lack Construction’s public relations representative.
Volleyball: Laguna Blanca Falls to Calvary Murrieta
Cox Calls Internet Outage ‘One-Shot Deal’
All 47,000 customers were offline for at least six hours, but much longer disruptions are reported.
All of Cox Communications’ South Coast Internet customers experienced a “planned outage” for several hours late Tuesday and Wednesday, but a company spokesman said there shouldn’t be a need for such a long outage to happen again.
David Edelman, Cox’s vice president for public affairs, said the company did not feel the need to give advance warning to its customers about the outage because the work was done during its “maintenance window,” which is generally from midnight to 6 a.m. In fact, Cox’s service went down just after 11 p.m. Tuesday and, as late as 6 p.m. Wednesday, Noozhawk was receiving reports from Cox customers of continued outages.
Edelman said Wednesday’s upgrade shut off Internet service to all of Cox’s 47,000 customers from Carpinteria to Goleta. He said the service went down for everyone simultaneously, but was turned back on gradually.
He said most people were back up and running by 5 a.m., with some exceptions. For instance, Edelman said there were pockets of customers in Montecito and Carpinteria who remained offline after 5 a.m., as well as other customers scattered throughout the South Coast. He said he did not know how many customers remained offline after 5 a.m.
Edelman said the scope of Wednesday morning’s upgrade was rare.
“This was really a once-in-a-lifetime switchover that we needed to do,” he said. “This is a one-shot deal.”
He added that on Wednesday, Cox responded to numerous complaints, and occasionally had to send service workers to people’s homes and offices to get their computers back online.
Softball: UCSB Signs Three to National Letters of Intent
Tiffany Corder, Kelly McDonald and Jackie Sweet will join the Gauchos for the 2010 season.
UCSB softball head coach Brie Galicinao has announced the signing of three student-athletes to national letters of intent. Tiffany Corder, Kelly McDonald and Jackie Sweet are expected to join the Gauchos for the 2010 season.
“This recruiting class will only help our program get stronger,” Galicinao said. “All three players have competed at the highest levels -— and picked up a bunch of team and individual accolades in high school and travel ball — and they have the expectation to continue to win championships once they get here.”
Corder is an infielder at San Clemente High School. During the 2007 season, she helped San Clemente to its first CIF playoffs in six years, batting .474 with an on-base percentage of .583. She played club ball with Marty Tyson’s Corona Angels, which took second place at the 2008 ASA 18 Gold Nationals, and the Worth Firecrackers, which were the 2007 18 Gold National Champions.
“Softball is my life, so competing in a strong Division I softball program is a top priority for me,” Corder said. “I chose to attend UCSB for its unique combination of athletic and academic excellence, as well as its beautiful West Coast location.”
McDonald is a utility player at Notre Dame High School in Belmont. Last season, she was named the WCAL MVP/Player of the Year and has been a First Team All-WCAL selection two years in a row.
She was named the player of the year by two local newspapers, the San Mateo Times and The Daily News. She also hit the winning two-run home run that gave Notre Dame HS the WCAL Championship.
“UCSB has been my No. 1 school choice since freshman year for being one of the top teams in the Big West and for its amazing location,” McDonald said. “I am excited to work with the great coaching staff and to be a part of, and contribute to, the Gaucho softball family.”
Sweet is a four-year starting shortstop at Santiago High School in Corona. She has been named to the Mountain View All-League Team during three consecutive seasons and was named to the All-Riverside County Team last season. Sweet helped Santiago High School win the CIF Championship her freshman season and the team has advanced to the semifinals the past two seasons.
“I want to play at the highest level, and UCSB plays top teams throughout the year,” Sweet said. “I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to play for a great coaching staff and I’m looking forward to playing with the girls on the team. I’ll also get a great education at a UC school and the location by the beach is incredible.”
The UCSB softball team will open the 2009 season on Feb. 6 when it plays in the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz. The Gauchos will face Oregon, Wichita State, Mcneese State, Wagner, Penn State and Arizona during the tournament.
Lisa Skvarla is UCSB‘s assistant media relations director.
Santa Barbara Police Chief Touts Successes of Gang Crackdown
Addressing a luncheon of the Lodging Association, city officials describe enforcement and intervention efforts.
Santa Barbara Police Chief Cam Sanchez, speaking at a luncheon Wednesday, revealed more details about a comprehensive gang sweep last month that resulted in the arrests of 172 suspected gang affiliates, all of them adults.
Sanchez said the effort, dubbed “Operation Gator Roll” — which included aid from the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies — was top secret for a year before the Oct. 15 raids, unknown even to his superiors at City Hall.
“My boss, I don’t think, knew until the night before, when I told him he was getting up at 4 in the morning the next day,” he said. “It wasn’t because I was trying to be sneaky, but I wanted to give my council and mayor the right to say they had no idea what was going on had it gone south.”
The police chief was among a group of top city officials invited to speak to members of the Greater Santa Barbara Lodging Association on the work the city is doing to curb gang violence. In the past year and a half, the violence has led to the stabbing deaths of three teenagers and has become a centerpiece issue in the city and South Coast.
Sanchez’s comments focused primarily on his portion of the city’s multipronged approach to the problem: enforcement. But he also spoke of an outreach effort in which Latino students at UCSB will mentor about 80 students who want to get out of the gang lifestyle. The mentors and students had planned to get to know one another over a Thankgiving dinner, but were $1,000 short on being able to make it happen. Before the event ended, the Harbor View Inn cut Sanchez a check for $1,000.
Sanchez said that after the daytime murder of 15-year-old Angel Linares on State Street in March 2007, he solicited the aid of the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
“I decided to call on my friends, and I invited them to Santa Barbara and took them out to dinner,” he said. “I said, ‘I need your help.’”
He said Operation Gator Roll was named for a wrestling move in which “you go for the head of the body.”
“We decided to go for the head of the snake, and cut it off,” he said, referring to how the investigation targeted adults who were calling the shots on the Eastside.
He said the federal agencies were summoned partly for the purpose of separating the gang members from one another once they were arrested.
“That morning … as the arrests were being made, a lot of these folks that were being arrested were walking into a room high-fiving each other and laughing at us, and sitting there mocking us, and talking about all the times they were going to visit later that day at the Santa Barbara County Jail,” he said. But when the FBI bus pulled up, and it became apparent they would be going to a federal lockup in Los Angeles, “all of a sudden everyone got really quiet. Imagine that.”
Sanchez also said that in a federal case, there is no parole, which means there is no chance to get out of jail early for good behavior.
In federal court, he said, if a judge says they will do 10 years, they will do 10 years.
“And then they get to do it in a state facility outside of California,” he said. “That’s huge.”
Sanchez also responded to criticism about his decision to bring in officials from the immigration department. He said immigration officials came specifically to pick up four adults who were all felons, and had all been deported years before. None were juveniles, as he said some have alleged.
“(Immigration officials) did go into homes where there were other undocumented people, but they did not even ask them their names,” he said. “They went in for the target, got the target, and got out.
“I will tell you that of the four illegal immigrants — criminals, by the way, criminals — that were here … two of them, when we woke them up had guns underneath their pillows,” he said. “Tell me, please, did we do the right thing? Of course we did.”
The room broke into applause.
Sanchez added that of the 172 adults arrested, 40 were already incarcerated around the state in connection with other crimes, and were woken up in their cells and given another charge.
“The U.S. attorney had a staff person assigned to us for over a year working on this and no one in this room knew that; none of my bosses knew that,” he said. The staff person, he said, wanted to ensure that nobody’s civil rights were violated.
Sanchez said that some of the people arrested were wanted on suspicion of crimes such as murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, rape and armed robbery.
“I’m sure all of us would believe they belong somewhere else other than walking the streets of Santa Barbara,” he said.
Lopez, meanwhile, elaborated on another major component of the city’s plan: intervention.
A multiagency group called the “gang task force” has created a model for embarking on a five-year plan to address the issue, he said.
The idea is to put in place an institutionalized structure — with a full-time executive director — for dealing with the problem. Part of that would involve coordinating the dozens of local nonprofit agencies that already offer services to the at-risk youths in question, but don’t have the time or resources to share much information.
Under the proposal, funding would come not only from the city of Santa Barbara, but the schools, the county, foundations, the business community, UCSB, SBCC and grants. The group wants it to be a South Coast effort, so it hopes to get the cities and schools involved in Carpinteria and Goleta.
Lopez also described a highly praised project that occurred this summer, in which the gang task force underwent a short-term project to gather information on local gang members. Of the 82 it identified, 52 were school-age and attending local schools, and 36 of the 52 were far behind in credits.
The task force members held mentoring sessions with the youths, in which they talked about why they got involved with gangs and what goals they would like to accomplish.
The group found jobs for 10 of the youths, and produced reports on the 52 school-age youths for the administrators at the schools they attend. Seventy percent of the students have improved their grades, he added.
Steve Hyslop, president of the Greater Santa Barbara Lodging Association, said he organized Wednesday’s event because he believes the city is doing commendable work, but that the word isn’t getting out.
“I get a lot of people asking me, ‘What’s been done?’” he said after the event. “I felt it was important that the hotel industry — which has a very vested interest in this issue – be brought up to speed.”
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UCSB Wind Ensemble Will Leave You Star-Struck
Thursday's fall concert will feature selections from 'The Planets' and 'Galilean Moons.'
The UCSB Wind Ensemble’s passionately dedicated director, Paul Bambach, has never accepted the compartmentalization and permanent minority status of classical music. He is always seeking ways to connect what he and his students do with the great, ongoing project of life on Earth. Now, for the Wind Ensemble’s fall concert, he has come up with a dandy.
Of course, all woodwind players and devotees will be familiar with the music of Holst (1874–1934), whose two suites for concert band and the Hammersmith Prelude and Scherzo are among the most frequently performed works on wind ensemble programs. All music lovers will know of Holst’s majestic orchestral suite, The Planets. But performances of the work by wind ensembles are comparatively rare. Holst himself transcribed two of the movements — Mars and Jupiter — for symphonic band, and a wind transcription of all seven movements was written by Merlin Patterson in 1998.
However, as most people familiar with The Planets are aware, the concept of the work is astrological rather than astronomical — that is why Earth is not included. Holst is present, as a powerful influence, in the other work on the program, Roger Cichy’s Gallilean Moons.
Cichy (born in 1956) has a dual career as a composer-arranger and a music educator. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music and a master of arts in music education from Ohio State University.
Galilean Moons was commissioned by the University of Georgia Wind Symphony and premiered at the College Band Directors National Association national convention in February 1997.
In the report of that convention, the work was described as follows. “Each of the four Galilean moons is extremely different and unique from each other. Cichy’s work reflects this, with each movement intended to be different and contrasting. Ganymede is an earthlike body… Much of this movement incorporates the Neapolitan minor scale. Callisto… has been illustrated with an unchanging, haunting melody introduced by the alto flute, laced with crystal-like sounds giving the portrayal of a cold, dark, life-less object. Io is largely based on minor second and tritone intervals. One of the most mysterious of all known bodies is Europa. Cichy’s wide use of major/minor tonality is dominant throughout this movement.”
The Gallilean moons are the four satellites of Jupiter that were among the first discoveries made by Gallileo when he turned his new telescope on the heavens. The news of their existences set the intellectual world of the 17th century on its ear and got Gallileo in big trouble with the Inquisition.
The star-struck concert of the UCSB Wind Ensemble will be at 8 p.m. Thursday in Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall. Tickets, sold at the door only, are $15 for general admission and $7 for students. For more information, click here or call 805.893.7001.
Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributor.
Soccer: SBCC Men to Host Cuyamaca in SoCal Regional; Women to Take On San Diego Mesa
The men are seeded No. 4, and the lady Vaqueros are seeded 10th.
The Santa Barbara City College men’s soccer team was seeded No. 4 for the Southern Cal Regional and will play host to No. 13 Cuyamaca of San Diego at 1 p.m. Saturday in La Playa Stadium.
Thirteen schools made the men’s regional and the top three got first-round byes.
Knight was named Player of the Year in the WSC, and SBCC’s John Sisterson earned his first Coach of the Year award.
Cuyamaca (10-6-4) won the Pacific Coast Conference with an 8-1-3 mark.
If SBCC wins, it will face the winner of the No. 5 Santa Ana and No. 12 Southwestern on Tuesday.
The SBCC women’s soccer team (13-2-5) was seeded 10th and will travel to No. 7 San Diego Mesa (13-3-5) to play at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Vaqueros were second in the WSC while Mesa tied for second in the Pacific Coast Conference.
Dave Loveton is Santa Barbara City College‘s sports information specialist.
Santa Barbara Craniosacral Expert Offering Workshops for 2009
National craniosacral expert Paul Brown has expanded his private practice in Santa Barbara and is hosting two upcoming practitioner workshops.
Brown, a certified family counselor therapist and hypnotherapist, teaches through the esteemed Milne Institute in Big Sur and has taught hundreds of students nationwide in his effort to expand the world of healing through craniosacral techniques.
Craniosacral therapy is a healing modality which grew out of osteopathy, the ancient art of bone-setting. With precise and gentle touch, the craniosacral practioner works to correct imbalances in the fluid and membranes surrounding and protecting the brain and spinal cord. The practice aims to relieve tension and release restrictions throughout the body.
Craniosacral therapy is valuable for many medical challenges and is routinely used as a preventive health measure as it boosts immune response and increases resistance to many health concerns.
Brown’s 2009 workshops for practitioners and students include:
» “A Visionary Approach to Craniosacral Work,” Saint Mary’s Seminary, Santa Barbara; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 26 to March 1. Cost is $600.
» Visionary Craniosacral Retreat, Hotel Lagunita, Yelapa, Meciao. Eight-day retreat, April 26 to May 3. Cost is $1,350 and includes lodging and meals.
Click here for more information about Brown. To schedule an appointment or to learn more about upcoming workshops contact Brown at 805.637.8756 or .
National craniosacral expert Paul Brown now practices in Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara MTD On Board with Continuing Amtrak Transfer Program
The agency's board of directors votes to extend the Transit Transfer Pass for another three years.
The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District Board of Directors voted Tuesday to continue the transfer program between Amtrak trains and MTD buses called the Transit Transfer Pass.
The program began in January 2006 and now will continue for another three years.
At the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District, the Transit Transfer Pass may be used as regular bus fare on any local MTD route, including the electric shuttles. The Transit Transfer Pass is not valid on regional service such as MTD’s Valley Express.
The pass has proven popular with visitors and is promoted through the Air Pollution Control District’s Santa Barbara Car Free program.
“Amtrak is pleased to offer this convenient multimodel opportunity to our passengers. We look forward to continuing to work with Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District to reduce the impact on the environment by offering this unique service,” said Marilee Bankert, field marketing officer for Amtrak.
Sarah Herbold is assistant marketing manager for the Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District.
Nava Opposes Proposal to Use State Funds for Oil Rigs Study
Assemblyman Pedro Nava, the California Legislature’s representative on the Ocean Protection Council, has announced his opposition to a proposal that would use state funds to pay for a study examining oil rig decommissioning alternatives.
On Friday, the OPC will consider a proposal to allocate $210,000 in state funds for a study examining decommissioning alternatives for offshore oil rigs.
Current oil lease agreements require offshore oil operators to remove all oil production facilities from the ocean floor to the platform. The process is expensive with costs ranging from tens of millions of dollars to more than $1 billion.
Oil companies in recent years have argued that the decommissioned rigs act as artificial reefs that constitute new, ecologically beneficial habitat for fish and other ocean species. Oil companies in the Gulf of Mexico and on California’s coast have been strong advocates of “rigs to reefs” as a decommissioning alternative because it results in savings of large sums of money.
Nava sent letters to the members of the OPC voicing his opposition to the proposal.
John Mann is a spokesman for Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara.
Gene Sequencing Instrument Facilitates New Research at UCSB
Thanks to a new piece of equipment priced at more than $500,000, UCSB has moved into the forefront of cutting-edge genetic research. For the first time, large-scale genomic sequencing is being performed in the Santa Barbara area.
The “next generation” instrument, purchased by UCSB’s Neuroscience Research Institute, has many different applications, according to Kenneth Kosik, M.D., Harriman Chair in Neuroscience Research, professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, and co-director of the NRI.
The study of human embryonic stem cells is among the most important ways the sequencer will be applied. “This is a rather novel use for the instrument,” said Kosik, who added that the sequencer “will serve as the cornerstone of genomics research here at UCSB. It allows us to do state-of-the-art work.”
The new instrument was paid for with funds from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation, philanthropist Gus Gurley and the university.
“The specific area that we are approaching is called expression biology,” Kosik said. “Expression means whether a gene is ‘turned on,’ and we are looking precisely at that.”
He explained that subsets of genes are turned on to make a kidney; other subsets are turned on to make a brain, or skin or other organs. For cells to differentiate, to take on these different identities, different sets of genes must be turned on and others have to be turned off. The human genome contains about 3 billion letters or nucleotides, per person, discovered by the sequencing technology in the year 2000. As a result, scientists now have a “parts list” of every gene — just like mechanics have a parts list for a car. Still missing is an “instruction manual” that will tell how all these genes are assembled into a human being.
“Expression biology — the turning on and off of genes — is a very important first step in learning how genes can operate to make a complex organism. Gene expression in stem cells will be particularly important to reach a detailed understanding of human development,” Kosik said. “We plan to take human embryonic stem cells and make them into some type of cell or tissue that needs repair. For a person who has diabetes, we would like to replace the cells in their pancreas to make insulin. For a person who has Parkinson’s disease, we would like to replace those particular cells in the brain that are dying.”
Kosik said UCSB research teams could study almost any disease with the sequencer.
“Some diseases are clearly genetic, such as sickle cell anemia. In this case, we know exactly how the mutation leads to the disease,” he said. “Other diseases, like atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and cancer, have a genetic component, but the genetic aspect is not yet fully understood. Other types of diseases including infectious diseases, like AIDS or bacterial diseases, are also important to study because these organisms mutate and thereby become resistant to drugs.”
He explained that UCSB researchers are using the new instrument to find all of the genes that are turned on in a particular type of cell, under specific conditions. Genes that are turned on, even in the same cell, will change. If the cell is under stress, or if there is an infection, the genes change in their expression.
The new sequencer is temporarily housed at the California NanoSystems Institute on campus, and operated by personnel from the NRI. The first research team to use the instrument is headed by Daniel Morse, a professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and of biomolecular sciences and engineering, as well as director of the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies. His postdoctoral fellow, Qian Gu, and graduate student Luke Bawazer, are sequencing a massive family of new DNA aptamers. These are DNA sequences that were selected for their ability to direct the low-temperature synthesis for semiconductors and related minerals never before made by biological systems.
The sequencer will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is connected to the Internet, so it can be followed remotely. Data can be offloaded from the machine and scientists can begin to analyze it while other samples are still running.
“While this piece of equipment is a great addition to the university, with $2 million more, the university could create a world class genomic center,” Kosik said. He hopes to establish a full-fledged Center on Genomics at UCSB, which could be created for far less than most institutions spend. “Because of our very focused questions and because we can leverage so much that is already here, we could get this center going for a fraction of the cost of what is being spent in other genomic centers around the country.”
Bush Issues Disaster Declaration, Grants Federal Aid for Fire Recovery
Residents and business owners in Santa Barbara County can apply for assistance starting Wednesday.
President Bush on Tuesday issued a major-disaster declaration for California and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the areas struck by wildfires.
David Paulison, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said federal funding is available to affected residents in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties.
The devastating $5.7 million Tea Fire, which scorched 1,940 acres and destroyed 210 homes in its path through Santa Barbara and Montecito, broke out Thursday. One death has been linked indirectly to the fire and there have been a score of injuries, including three critical burn injuries.
Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal and emergency protective measures, and for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
Mark Neveau has been named the federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
Neveau said damage surveys are continuing in other areas, and additional counties may be designated for assistance after the assessments are completed.
Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties can begin applying for assistance Wednesday by registering online at www.fema.gov or by calling 800.621.3362, or 800.462.7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired, between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time.
Jackknifed Rig Blocks Northbound Highway 101, Spills Diesel Fuel
A jackknifed tractor-trailer rig blocked all lanes of northbound Highway 101 south of Casitas Pass Road early Wednesday morning.
Units from the California Highway Patrol and Santa Barbara County and Carpinteria fire departments arrived about 3:30 a.m. to find all lanes blocked, about 110 gallons of diesel fuel spilled onto the roadway and extensive damage to the guardrail and concrete undercrossing at Carpinteria Creek, with a small amount of diesel spilled into the creek.
The impact to the guardrail and undercrossing ruptured the fuel tanks of the Freightliner and spilled diesel fuel onto the roadway and partially into Carpinteria Creek.
The California Department of Fish & Game, Caltrans, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department and other public agencies were notified and responded to the scene to collaborate on the cleanup of the diesel.
All northbound lanes were closed for nearly four hours for scene cleanup, investigation and vehicle removal.
The northbound Casitas Pass Road offramp is expected to remain closed until about 3 p.m. for repairs.
Police say alcohol was not a factor in this collision.
Officer Dan Barba is a public affairs officer for the California Highway Patrol-Santa Barbara Area.
Council Rejects Proposed Competing Initiative on Building Heights
The vote means that in November 2009, Santa Barbara residents will vote on just one measure.
The Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday narrowly rejected an attempt to begin the process of putting a measure on the ballot that would compete with a citizen-driven initiative that a year from now will ask voters to significantly lower the height limits of new buildings.
Tuesday’s 4-3 vote means that in November 2009, Santa Barbara residents will vote on just one initiative, the citizen initiative, which supporters say is necessary to maintain the city’s small-town charm, and critics say is overly simplistic, and likely to exacerbate the squeeze felt by the city’s middle class.
As it stands now, buildings in the commercial zones of Santa Barbara can be 60 feet high. The initiative calls for lowering the limit to 40 feet in the historic downtown area and 45 feet in the rest of the city.
The competing initiative, brought to the council by Councilman Das Williams, was a compromise, limiting the height to 40 and 45 feet in the same areas, but allowing developers to go as high as 60 feet when they go well above and beyond on affordable housing. “Above and beyond” may have been defined as any project in which 30 percent of the projects are considered affordable — twice the percent that is required by city ordinance.
“The 40-foot limit would not allow for affordable housing — it doesn’t give that flexibility,” he said. “We should at least give the voters the chance to choose between these two measures.”
Meanwhile, Save El Pueblo Viejo, the group that collected more than 11,000 signatures to put the initiative on the ballot, argues that lowering the height limits would not reduce affordable housing options if developers showed more willingness to lower the ceilings of the individual units.
One member of the group, Connie Hannah of the League of Women Voters, criticized the competing proposal, saying it would allow for the construction of the very building that has stirred up much of the recent outcry over building heights: the Paseo Chapala condo complex on Chapala Street. Though the complex is filled with luxury condos, 30 percent of its units are considered affordable to middle-class buyers.
The group’s leader, former Planning Commissioner Bill Mahan, urged the council to vote against the proposal, saying it would go against the will of the people. Mahan admitted that he voted for Paseo Chapala as a planning commissioner.
“The voters came and looked at those buildings afterward and they said, ‘Too big, too big. This doesn’t fit Santa Barbara’s character,’” he said.
He added that if the initiative passes and years later a developer comes along with plans for a structure standing in excess of 45 feet that city leaders feel would benefit Santa Barbara, that the city could put a measure on the ballot for that specific building.
Michael Holliday, a member of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, said he supported the competing measure.
“We think a city-sponsored measure can at least begin to address the complex issues that are going to be involved in a program like this,” he said.
Although four council members voted against it, two of them — Roger Horton and Iya Falcone — also oppose Mahan’s ballot initiative.
Horton went as far as to describe Mahan’s comment on floating separate ballot initiatives for individual buildings taller than 45 feet as “wacky.”
“That doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said. “But just throwing another initiative out there just doesn’t feel right. It just doesn’t feel like something we should be doing. I don’t like either one of them.”
Also opposed to the competing measure were Mayor Marty Blum and Councilman Dale Francisco, both supporters of the initiative by Save El Pueblo Viejo.
“There’s a long tradition in the city of Santa Barbara of the citizens telling the council what they think,” Blum said. “I think that’s what we have here with this initiative.”
Council members Grant House and Helene Schneider voted in favor of the proposal.
“It’s not a competing initiative; it’s an alternative initiative,” Schneider said. “Let the voters tell me which one they want.”
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Santa Barbara, Montecito YMCAs Reaching Out to Victims of Tea Fire
Fees are waived for six months for members and new enrollees.
The Santa Barbara and Montecito YMCAs will waive fees for members or extend free membership to new members for the next six months for residents whose homes were damaged in the Tea Fire.
The YMCA also sends a heartfelt thank-you to the firefighters.
On Thursday night, as many residents were scrambling to evacuate, the Montecito YMCA assisted the community by helping with the staging and feeding of firefighters. Firefighters slept in the multipurpose room and throughout the property before being sent to the front lines.
Susan Sawyer is communications and marketing director for the Channel Islands YMCA.
Tennis: Dos Pueblos Battles But Falls in CIF Quarterfinal
The Chargers won all five doubles sets in the 13-5 loss to La Quinta.
“All for one, and one for all ...”
After boarding an airbus early Tuesday, the Chargers headed for La Quinta to play the powerful Blackhawks in a CIF quarterfinal matchup under hot and windless conditions.
Dos Pueblos, missing three players, rose to the occasion and gave everything it had in this final match. The players remained focused, energized and kept their feet bouncing.
In addition, seniors Anna Slyutova and Sofia Pasternack won a nice set. In the last round, senior Melissa Dahl partnered with Anna Slyutova to battle the No. 1 Blackhawks’ team and fell in a close set, 4-6.
In singles, Lauren Stratman, Erica Cano, Nicole Eskenazi and Shelbi Nigh took on some highly ranked juniors, Pam Montez (No. 1 in the Girls 18s), Alexa Lee (No. 36 in the Girls 18s) and Jaci West (No. 56 in the Girls 18s). The set scores in singles don’t indicate how tough our players played.
In the end, the Chargers were disappointed by the loss, but went home feeling proud. Dos Pueblos finished its season with a 19-4 record, the best it has done in a long time. Again, our fans cheered us on.
The singles experience Tuesday gave Lauren and Erica preparation for the sectionals on Saturday at Cate School.
Dos Pueblos overall record: 19-4
La Quinta overall record: 15-2
Dos Pueblos Singles:
Erica Cano 0-3
Lauren Stratman 0-3
Nicole Eskenazi 0-2
Shelbi Nigh 0-1
Dos Pueblos Doubles:
Oriane Matthys/Nicoletta Bradley 2-1
Sofia Pasternack/Anna Slyutova 1-1
Amy Sagraves/Amy Logan 2-1
Melissa Dahl/Anna Slyutova 0-1
La Quinta Singles:
Pam Montez 3-0
Alexa Lee 3-0
Jaci West 3-0
La Quinta Doubles:
Megan Lester/Katherine Dickerson 3-0
Natalie Graham/Tatum Kanter 1-2
Tiffany Kanter/Ana Al-Sarabi 0-3
Liz Frech coaches girls’ tennis at Dos Pueblos High.
Loss of Cox Internet Service Related to Planned Outage
Cox Communications customers in the Santa Barbara area on Tuesday night experienced a “planned outage” in their Internet service from shortly before midnight Tuesday to 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Both a tech support representative and his supervisor, located in Dayton, OH, could not say why local Cox customers were not notified sooner about the outage and acknowledged that it was unusual that there was little, if any warning, given the widespread loss of internet connection. According to the tech center, they were given news of the planned outage only an hour before it occurred. They could not say how many customers were affected by this event.
Counselors Replace Firefighters on the Front Lines in Wake of Tea Fire
The Red Cross and Jewish Family Service offer free counseling to residents reeling from the effects of loss.
As smoke from the Tea Fire clears and the glare of the media spotlight dims, many victims facing sudden homelessness may find that the sting of loss has barely begun.
And it could be awhile before it goes away.
When the Tea Fire started its devastating march that destroyed 210 homes in the foothills of Santa Barbara and Montecito, the front line of defense was made up of firefighters. Now it includes counselors.
Underscoring the importance of psychological therapy at a time like this, the American Red Cross-Santa Barbara Chapter includes, in every small team of volunteers dispatched throughout the burn area, not only people to hand out food and water, but also a mental-health provider to talk with victims.
Working through the Red Cross, Roberta Ainciart, a retired marriage-and-family therapist and licensed clinical social worker, has volunteered to train mental-health professionals with no experience in trauma therapy to work with Tea Fire victims. On Monday, she said, counselors out in the field were able to talk with about 100 people.
Among victims, she said, the range of reaction has been wide.
“From making jokes — being light because it hasn’t quite hit yet — to sobbing and feeling that they can’t stop crying,” she said.
At some point, victims are apt to begin experiencing alternating waves of exhaustion, worry, frustration and anger, she said. Therapists also said it is common for those affected to feel scattered, irritable and argumentative. Some may fall back on unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as substance abuse, or find themselves lapsing into traits they exhibit under extreme stress, such as becoming hyper-organized or controlling.
“People are physically drained, mentally drained and might have aches and pains,” Ainciart said. “Sometimes with the emotional exhaustion, the body starts to ache.”
Ainciart said the key thing for people to realize is that all of that is normal.
“These are not crazy people, or anything other than people going through stress,” she said.
Ainciart added that the symptoms could be even worse for anyone who had lost their home once before.
“This will bring up all the old stuff plus the new. It will sort of multiply,” she said. “Like people going through chemo (for the second time), they know what to expect, and it’s awful. It’s not better.”
To staunch the anxiety, therapists advise people to take care of themselves.
“People will go without eating,” Kristine Schwarz of Santa Barbara Psychotherapy said. “They will begin to get rundown, they will get sick. With that level of stress, to not care of their health can have a snowball effect, with anxiety increasing or depression increasing.”
Schwarz said the Red Cross is an excellent place to acquire the basics: food, clothing, shelter and even toys for children.
She also advises people to increase the dosage of whatever healthful coping mechanism works best for them. For someone in a 12-step program for alcohol abuse, that could mean attending extra meetings. Others may like to meditate, go to the gym or do yoga.
People are also advised to stay in touch with their support networks.
“Stay connected with family and friends. Don’t isolate,” Ainciart said.
People should not be afraid — or too proud — to ask for help if they need it. They are also encouraged to talk to people about their loss.
Elizabeth Wolfson, the director of Jewish Family Service of Greater Santa Barbara, said it is important for people to look on the bright side.
“I’m alive, my family is alive — that’s the most important thing,” said Wolfson, a licensed clinical social worker with a doctorate in social work.
Wolfson said people should avoid letting the tragedy monopolize their attention. As much as possible, it’s good to get back to one’s routine, she said.
“It’s also OK to be nice to yourself,” she added, suggesting a trip to a spa, for example.
At the same time, she said, victims need to know that their troubles are valid.
“It is a big deal,” she said.
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Men’s Soccer: Westmont to Host Holy Names in Opening Round of National Championship
The Warriors will use Saturday's game to thank the community for its response after the Tea Fire.
After winning the Golden State Athletic Conference Championship on Monday with a 2-0 victory over No. 5 Azusa Pacific, the 24th-ranked Westmont College men’s soccer team has turned its attention to the 2008 NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship opening round. The Warriors (10-6-2) will host Bay Area school Holy Names at 7 p.m. Saturday at UCSB’s Harder Stadium.
Westmont will use the opportunity to say thank you to the Santa Barbara community for all the help, support and compassion it has received in response to the Tea Fire, which swept through campus last week. In addition to free admission, the Warriors plan to honor some of those who gave of themselves in protecting not only the Westmont campus but also the communities of Montecito and Santa Barbara.
Westmont and Holy Names last faced each other in 2006 in the first round of the NAIA Regional Tournament where the Warriors defeated the Hawks by a score of 2-0. The only other previous meeting between the two squads was in 2004 as part of Westmont’s Heritage Club Classic. The Warriors won that game 3-2.
Holy Names, which has outscored its opponents 70-17 this season, is led offensively by Mustafa Celik, a junior forward. Celik, who hails from Cologne, Germany, has scored 30 goals this season including a season-high seven against Cal State Maritime. Holy Names has won its last 13 games.
Westmont is on a five-game winning streak including victories over ranked opponents in its last three outings. Sophomore forward Anthony Niboli leads the Warriors with seven goals while senior midfielder Jonathon Schoff has recorded six goals and three assists. Except for two penalty kicks, Westmont has not allowed a goal since Oct. 22 in a 1-1 tie with Biola. Senior goalkeeper Justin Etherton has tallied 64 saves and recorded a goals-against-average of 0.97.
The victor of Saturday’s game will advance to the second round, where they will face the winner between sixth-seeded Park of Missouri (11-3-3) and Baker of Kansas (13-6-2). The second round, and all subsequent rounds, will be held at the 2008 NAIA Men’s Soccer National Championship Final Site, which this year is Ramirez Field on the campus of Fresno Pacific. The second round game for the Westmont-Fresno Pacific winner will be at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 2.
Ron Smith is Westmont College‘s sports information director.
Women’s Golf: Sim Sparkles as SBCC Rallies to Claim State Title
The Vaqueros, who started the day four shots back in third place, recorded a season-best 311.
Asaka Sim fired a 2-over-par 74 on Tuesday and the Santa Barbara City College women’s golf team rallied to capture its second state community college title in the past three years.
The Vaqueros, who started the day four shots off the lead in third place, recorded a season-best 311 at Olivas Links GC to finish 15 strokes ahead of Sacramento City.
“This feels wonderful,” SBCC coach Chuck Melendez said. “It’s better than the first one (in 2006) because we have an all-freshman team and this was kind of unexpected.”
SBCC totaled 637 strokes to overtake the first-day leader, Palomar. Sacramento City was second at 652, followed by Palomar (663) and Sierra (664). The title has never been won by a Northern California school.
Asaka Sim’s 79 was the low round of the day. Jessica Ko (Santiago Canyon), Toyahni Beihn (Fresno City) and Samantha Kang (Canada) tied for second at 154, and Ko won a three-hole playoff to determine the runner-up.
SBCC was state champion in 2006 and took second in California last year.
Women’s State Golf Finals
Final round
At par-72 Olivas Links, Ventura
SBCC: 326-311 — 637
Sacramento City: 25-327 —652
Palomar: 322-341 — 663
Sierra: 334-330 — 664
Individual state champion: Asaka Sim, SBCC, 79-74 — 153.
SBCC scores: Sumika Sim 79-78 — 157, Jackie Molstad 84-79 —163, Jenna Boyle 84-80 — 164.
Dave Loveton is Santa Barbara City College‘s sports information specialist.
Sheriff Says 10 People Thought to be Responsible for Tea Fire
A multiagency probe and an anonymous tip leads investigators to a Tea House bonfire the night before the blaze started.
Ten young adults are believed to be responsible for the $5 million Tea Fire, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told a hastily arranged news conference late Tuesday afternoon.
“Today’s developments certainly do not resolve this terrible tragedy, but they do provide us with the answer as to how the fire started,” Brown said in announcing the findings of the investigation into the devastating blaze that burned 2,000 acres in the western Montecito foothills, upper Sycamore Canyon and Rattlesnake Canyon.
According to Brown, the individuals, local men and women ages 18-22, had built a bonfire late in the evening on Nov. 12, by a wall in the Tea Garden, a popular hangout spot located in the 700 block of East Mountain Drive just northwest of the Westmont campus. They left the area between 3 and 5 a.m. Thursday but apparently failed to put out the fire completely.
“It is not uncommon for fires of this type to smolder and have ignition potential for several days,” Brown said. “Due to the weather conditions Thursday, the fire reignited.”
By Thursday evening, the fire was raging, propelled by winds gusting to 70 mph and accelerated by temperatures in the upper 80s.
The individuals deemed responsible for the fire were found as a result of a multiagency investigation with the cooperation of the Sheriff’s Department, the county Fire Department, the U.S. Forest Service, the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Ventura County Fire Department. A critical lead through the Sheriff’s Department anonymous tip line led to the discovery of the 10 individuals thought to be responsible for the blaze. Officials have declined to name the individuals, as the investigation is ongoing.
At this time, Brown said, the cause of the fire is not thought to be of malicious intent, and the individuals involved have been cooperative. They are associated with a school, said Brown, who declined to identify which school, or whether it might be Westmont.
Reports will be filed with the District Attorney’s Office early next week, and the DA will determine whether criminal charges will be filed in the case. Charges, if any, would be related to negligence as opposed to criminal intent, Brown said.
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Football: SBCC’s Harris, Dorset Named APC Players of the Week
It's the second straight American Pacific Conference honor for freshman Trayone Harris.
Trayone Harris captured his second straight American Pacific Conference football Player of the Week award, and Santa Barbara City College teammate Ken Dorset won his first defensive honor.
Dorset, a 6-foot-22 sophomore from San Jose, made four tackles and had a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown in SBCC’s sixth straight victory.
The Vaqueros (6-4) tied Antelope Valley for the APC championship with a 6-1 record.
Dave Loveton is Santa Barbara City College‘s sports information specialist.
Wanted: Gently Used Clothing for Roosevelt School’s Fire Victims
It is time for some early spring cleaning — all for a good cause.
At least five Roosevelt Elementary School families lost their homes in the Tea Fire. Other Roosevelt families have friends and neighbors who lost everything. So let’s get those closets cleaned out. Bring gently used clothes and shoes and deposit them in the big blue recycling bins in the parking lot at the school, 1190 Laguna St., before Friday.
Another option is to purchase gift certificates to local stores and turn them into the office. Macy’s is offering a 50 percent discount to all fire victims — so donations will go twice as far.
The giveaway will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in Roosevelt’s cafeteria.
For more information, call Gloria Cavallero at 805.687.9957 or 805.252.5555, Lynn Montgomery at 805.687.7811 or 805.252.3171 or Jeanette Hirschberg at 805.899.3444.
Lynn Montgomery is a Roosevelt Elementary School parent.
California Delegation Calls for Federal Aid in Wake of Fires
The Bush administration is urged to grant resources to assist communities affected by the Tea Fire and other blazes.
Rep. Lois Capps, U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and 38 other House members Tuesday called on the Bush administration to support California’s request for a Major Disaster Declaration, U.S. Small Business Administration disaster loans and funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Emergency Loan Program.
“Once again our state has been devastated by a number of serious fires, including the Tea Fire, in our community,” Capps said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to our neighbors who were injured or who lost property in the fire, as well as our appreciation for the firefighters and emergency personnel who are fighting the Tea Fire to protect our lives and property.
“As we shift our efforts from extinguishing the fire to recovering from its devastation, it’s critical the federal government step up and provide additional resources to help with the cost of repairing the damage the Tea Fire inflicted on our community. My congressional colleagues and I join with Gov. Schwarzenegger in asking the Bush administration to quickly grant a Major Disaster Declaration so the full resources of the federal government can aid Californians as they fight and recover from these fires.”
Emily Kryder is press secretary for Rep. Lois Capps.